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Rio de Janeiro to open taxi app API

The city has created a tool to connect taxis and passengers at no cost to drivers.
Written by Angelica Mari, Contributing Writer

The city of Rio de Janeiro will open the API of its newly-created taxi app to other Brazilian cities.

The tool Taxi.Rio connects licensed taxi drivers with passengers. Differently to other commercial tools such as Uber, drivers can use the tool free of charge.

A proprietary payment gateway for the app is also being developed by IplanRio, the city's informatics company.

According to IplanRio, the API for the tool will be available to any city wanting to create a local version; cities that have shown interest include capitals São Paulo, Curitiba, Recife and Aracaju.

A successful two-month trial of the app with 500 people including passengers and drivers has just ended and drivers have been able to register since last week.

Taxi.Rio will be available to passengers from late September.

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